WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Petroleum toxins left over by British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 have caused fatal lung lesions in bottlenose dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a report.
“The timing, location and nature of the detected lesions support [the conclusion] that contaminants from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused these lesions and contributed to the high numbers of dolphin deaths within this oil spill’s footprint,” the report read on Wednesday.
The findings follow a five-year NOAA scientific study into the causes of the high number of dolphin deaths in the region.
The United States has experienced a number of maritime oil and gas environmental disasters, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez shipwreck in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, which left behind long-term environmental destruction and economic hardship.
